If you’re a good wrestler, or ground and pound’er – it take a while before you can integrate different submissions into your striking game – be patient, it will pay off. Practice delivering 3 punches and then going for the lock, then 5 punches then go for the lock, and a series of 10 blows then going for it. Stay aware – while stacking a guy and hitting him he’ll try different sweeps. As soon as he opens his guard or tries to postures up, try going for the leg lock. Having dangerous leg locks will allow you be keep your dominance during those scrambles for positions.

Watch how the guys in these videos (at times) setup leg locks by striking or attempting other submissions first.

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Obviously, prevention is the best defense … but so is a good offense.

This first video is how to enter a leg lock from standing position. I almost never see this any more in MMA, but I seem to remember Bas Rutten doing it several times.

Same technique, different angles:

A Sambo lock from the half-guard:

Half Guard attacks: Electric Chair, Stoner Control, Banana Split …

Attack from within the guard:

From the mount:

Escape from mount and transition into leglock:

Here’s one with one of my favorite grapplers, JJ Machado showing an attack chain of leg locks.

I remember learning my first ankle lock and tapping out almost all the guys at my level with it. Opportunities to try it out popped up everywhere. I’d roll with a guy and two or three minutes in, I’d slap it on and get the tap.  Personally, I’d love to seem more submissions in MMA via leg locks. Yes, they’re dangerous – but so are dozens of other moves! Train under proper guidance and be cautious. It’s better to lose the submission in practice than ruin your partners knee for 18 months.

That being said, I’m going to put up several posts concerning the topic.

For starters, this video is very illustrative, as your first step to getting the submissions is avoiding the mishaps.

So if those (see video) are the 4 most common leg lock mistakes, what are the solutions?
The upcoming posts will explore most of the technical issues, but these are the basic answers:

• Don’t telegraph – practice stacking guard and immediately going into it, or distract opponent’s awareness by attacking/feigning elsewhere as a setup.
• When applying the ankle lock, get your radius (long bone of the thumb-side forearm) under opponents Achilles tendon, past the calf muscles.
• Learn the correct leg and foot positioning for each submission.
• Accept the fact that there will be some scrapping for position, and learn how to relentlessly attack. Theoretically, every attack should be one of a potential combination of moves. Just like kickboxing – jab, cross, hook, knee. Jujitsu attack chains are great for this.

The foot/ankle lock

This is a great submission to try when you’re attempting to break your opponents guard.

Now watch a slightly different variation, from standing position. This video is of Jean-Jacques Machado at ADCC (the toughest no-gi submission tournament in the world) slapping an ankle lock on his opponent within the first few seconds of the match. JJ Machado is awesome!

Sambo Leg Manipulation

The position in this video is a little bit different than the guard, but you can wind up there in several ways. You could have just gone from single/double leg takedown and had difficulty in going to side control or may have just thwarted a sweep attempt from your opponent. You may have also just transitioned into the leg lock position if the guard you’re in is open or loose.

Bruce Foster goes through a bunch of different submissions in a short time – so watch out. Notice how his hips are swiveled all the way to the side. If you aren’t sideways, on hip on the floor the submissions won’t work well, as his leg isn’t trapped very well.

A couple of tips:

• Remember – when locking in the submission, squeeze your knees together.
• Get those hips sideways.
• Get the other leg out of the way – you don’t want it interfering, be careful not to overextend it. At very least, your overextended leg will keep you from getting sideways. Worse yet, your opponent may grab your leg and try something.
• Use your radial bone (thumb-side forearm bone) to dig into his tissue.
• Get your radial bone under his Achilles tendon, close to his foot. Don’t choke up onto the leg – you have the most leverage and damage dealing potential at the end of his leg.